


February 15th

by SuperfriendlyFox



Series: Lena is Extra [4]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, F/F, Light Angst, idiots in love break up then make up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 02:29:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17799425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperfriendlyFox/pseuds/SuperfriendlyFox
Summary: “You’re a Super. I’m a Luthor. We somehow got in a good year and a few months but it was never going to work. We were doomed from the start.”Lena despairs, Kara hopes to reconcile, and Jess intervenes.





	February 15th

 

Lena’s fingers closed around Kara’s favorite pillow.

It was technically Lena’s, as she had found it, and paid for it, and enjoyed it for several months before Kara had even moved in, a little over a year ago. But the pillow would remind her too much of Kara, so, she tossed it into the large cardboard box sitting on the floor by the closet.

She headed there now and continued searching through her things, picking the occasional blouse of Kara’s out from between her own. Moving to the shelves full of cardigans, she toed the box, dragging it along the floor with her. The first thing she chucked into it was a hideous thing—in happier circumstances, she would have felt quite pleased to rid herself of the ugly Christmas sweater Kara’s great-aunt Agatha had gifted her. Now, it just caused her pain.

Unable even to look at the sheets in the airlocked plastic bag, she kept her gaze averted and felt around for them instead. She couldn’t bear to think of how it all began, now that it was ending.

All this she did while dabbing at her eyes, and picking up one or the other of the cats off her shoulders and gently plunking them back onto the floor.

“You’re Mommy’s now,” she reminded first the one, then the other, as no sooner had she placed Ralphie on the floor than Lauren jumped onto her shoulders and kneaded her sweater. “Kara is your only mommy now.” Ralphie meowed—talking back, as children do. Lena did her best to placate her. “Don’t worry, you’ll forget me soon enough.”

Just like Kara would forget her.

She didn’t remember quite when their rather typical kittens had turned into shoulder-riding, full-grown cats. A year and a few months had flown by, and Lena blamed Kara for being a bad influence. Undoubtedly the kittens had learned to leap onto shoulders by watching Kara take any opportunity at all to float up to the ceiling, when using a stepladder to grab something off a tall shelf would do perfectly well.

That reminded her. She shouldn’t forget to check Lauren’s hiding places for more of Kara’s things, lest Lena stumble onto them later and receive an unhappy reminder of her ex. She strode to the first known cache, under the living room couch, Ralphie following behind.

Crouching and placing her cheek close to the hardwood floor—Lauren shifted onto Lena’s back so as not to fall off—she squinted, and could just make out a dark, jumbled mess. She reached underneath and pulled out an assortment of scrunchies, a cardigan button, and Maggie’s lost scarf. Lauren had mostly simple tastes. Especially now that James, Winn and J’onn kept watch on their wallets when they came over, and the gals kept their purses and handbags zipped. Lauren had a reputation.

Lena straightened and stared at the scarf, scratching Ralphie under her chin. They’d looked under the couch—and in _all_ of Lauren’s hiding places—when Maggie reported it missing. Lauren must be on to them, moving the stolen goods about in an attempt to keep Kara and Lena guessing. Lena smiled. Their cat was smart.

Ralphie started to eat the button. Lena snagged it. (Ralphie was not quite as bright.)

There was a soft knock at the door, and Lena frowned. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Kara was coming after seven, and Lena would make sure she had left before then.

Besides, Kara would just use her key.

Lena stood and picked a crying Lauren off her shoulders, and softly placed her on the couch. She stalked to the door. Lauren immediately jumped off the sofa to scurry after her, while Ralphie hid underneath.

She peeked through the peephole and drew in a sharp breath.

After a moment, she composed herself and bent to pick up the cat before opening the door. She quickly moved to the side to allow Kara entrance, while keeping her eyes on the floor.

Kara’s feet shuffled inside. “I, uh . . . Something came up. I hope it’s okay I came earlier than we said?”

As Ralphie raced out from her hiding place for hello snuggles, and Lauren struggled in Lena’s arms to give Kara affection as well, Lena cleared her throat. “It’s fine. You could have used your key once more, before leaving it.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Kara looked guilty as Lena lifted her gaze. “I just, I didn’t want to just barge in.”

She stepped farther into the foyer and accepted a second cat into her arms, as Lena handed Lauren over and shut the door.

“I’ll leave you to it.” Lena moved a step to the hall table to pick up her keys and shove them in her jeans pocket, then turned back to Kara. “I guess I should say goodbye now.”

Kara’s eyes widened, but Lena merely took hold of both cats—like a set of furry barbells—and lifted them to her face. She gave them each a quick kiss before offering them back.

Kara took them, quite reluctantly. “You know you have visiting rights, of course. They’re yours, just as much as mine.”

Lena huffed. “Your name is on the paperwork.”

“That doesn’t mean anything, Lena, you know that. And they would miss—”

“It would be too hard, Kara.” Lena gave her ex a sharp look, but softened it immediately at the hurt on Kara’s face. Their breakup was just as much Lena’s fault, she could admit now. “Just please, please be gone when I get back.”

She opened the hall closet and shrugged on a coat, avoiding Kara’s eyes. She wiggled her fingers in a last farewell to the cats. Ralphie and Lauren mewed and reached their paws toward her, as if they knew it was the last time they would see her. Lena swallowed and stepped out the door, and let out a breath once safe in the hallway.

Outside, she walked down the street, turning up her collar to protect against the wind. _Damn, I should have borrowed Maggie’s scarf._ It was cold. It was February. Valentine’s Day, to be exact. A year after their first—their _only,_ Lena corrected herself irritably—Valentine’s Day.

She didn’t know where to go. She couldn’t even remember what she used to do with herself, before Kara came into her life.

Lena walked so long she started passing bars, but resisted the urge to go in, not even when a door opened and Al Green kindly commiserated with her. How _can_ you mend a broken heart? Lena didn’t know, but from past experience she knew alcohol would just make things worse, in the long run.

She turned around, to head for the safety of work. Work had always given her a place to turn, to drown her sorrows. And there was a couch she could spend the night on, instead of going home, where she suspected Kara was stubbornly waiting.

 

*

 

She was awakened the next morning by her assistant, on said couch.

Jess had made no secret of her displeasure over Lena and Kara’s breakup. Rather than taking sides, however, she seemed equally annoyed with them both. But Kara didn’t have to work with her. Lena did. And although Lena’s assistant—as a matter of pride—would never let her work performance drop, Jess made sure to indicate her disapproval in other, more creative ways. For instance, every time Lena passed her assistant’s desk, Jess would utter something under her breath. Lena was sure this was some sort of signal Jess and her Labrador had worked out beforehand, as each time, without fail, the dog would fart in Lena’s direction.

She now regretted having instituted a pet-friendly policy at L-Corp. (What choice had she had, though, having fobbed off that Miniature Schnauzer on Hector at the previous year’s New Year’s Eve gala?)

So it was a long day, made even longer by the absence of a certain reporter at lunchtime. But it was something Lena had to get used to. It was better for them both, to be apart, after the things they’d said to each other.

At a sharp knock on her door, Lena looked up from her paperwork.

Jess peeked her head in. “Your four-fifteen is here, Miss Luthor.”

Lena narrowed her eyes. “I wasn’t aware I had a four-fifteen.”

“You do now.” Jess opened the door wider, and in stepped Kara. Jess narrowed her eyes back at Lena, withdrew her head, and shut the door on them.

Kara coughed, and looked uncomfortable, and looked beautiful, Lena had to admit.

“I don’t mean to intrude.”

“Sure you do.” But Lena didn’t mind too much, she had to admit.

Kara smiled—a hint of a smile really, before shutting it down and assuming a serious look. “You’re Lauren’s other mom, in actuality, if not legally. So I thought you should know, she’s graduated from petty crime.”

Lena quirked an eyebrow, and suppressed a smile. “Has she, now.”

Kara nodded, not a trace of amusement on her face. “She’s moved on to grand larceny. I thought an intervention was in order, and Jess agreed.” She pulled something out of her coat pocket, and opened her fingers—

And Lena closed her eyes in dismay. Kara held a ring box, one Lena knew well. It probably still contained the engagement ring she’d bought Kara two months ago, as Lauren hadn’t yet learned how to open boxes.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have looked inside, I realize,” Kara continued. “It’s just, I thought maybe she got it from Alex or Maggie the last time they were over. But, since they’re already married . . .” She coughed again, even though she never got sick. “I realized . . . it must belong to you.”

“I got it a couple months ago.” Somehow Lena felt the need to confess. “And then I realized it was so close to Valentine’s, and since our first one got ruined . . .”

Kara laughed. Just a bit. “I wouldn’t call it ruined.”

Lena allowed herself to smile. Just a bit. “I would call an emergency business trip to London ruining it, yes. And then the alien attack on Trafalgar Square ruining it further, after you’d flown all the way over to surprise me.”

Kara shrugged, a big grin on her face now. “We made up for it the next day.”

Lena shook her head. “February fifteenth. It’s not the same.”

“Maybe we could make February fifteenth _our_ day.”

Lena’s heart raced as Kara made her way over to her desk, and sat on top. Lena must have misheard her. She held her hand out for the ring box, but Kara didn’t seem to see that.

“I’m sorry, Lena. I handled it badly,” she blurted out instead. “I totally overreacted.”

Lena retracted her hand. She closed her fist around her pen, willing her heart to settle. “You were perfectly in the right to react the way you did. I should have told you I was synthesizing kryptonite. Of course you would react that way to my having kept it a secret.”

She laid the pen down, and held her head in her hands. “I should have told you. I just didn’t want you to think I didn’t trust you.”

“You were right not to,” Kara mumbled. “I was so sure I wouldn’t fall for red kryptonite poisoning again, that I would know it at the first sign if it happened, and get myself in to the DEO for treatment. I wouldn’t have understood your need to make some just in case. I would have reacted badly just the same.”

Lena just kept sitting, hiding her face, willing herself not to cry, willing Kara to leave before it came to that.

Instead something settled onto the desk—the ring box, Lena guessed. Then Kara softly took Lena’s hands, and moved them off her face. “Can’t we try again, since we’re both sorry?”

Lena stared down at her desk, desperately trying not to think of happier times spent on it. “It would be too hard, Kara. I can’t ever look at you the same way. I can’t ever feel the same, not after the things you said. I can never unhear them.”

“I didn’t mean them.”

“Some part of you did.” Lena looked up at Kara sharply, accusingly. Angry suddenly, she stood up, closed her laptop, and slid it into her handbag, along with some contracts that needed to be signed. “Now if you don’t mind, I have work that absolutely needs to get done today.” She slung her bag over her shoulder and strode to the door, and—

The door was, inexplicably, locked from the outside.

“Jess! Open this door this instant!” She sighed. In her shock, she’d forgotten she’d soundproofed her office, so no one would hear her moans when lunchtimes with Kara turned into ‘dessert.’

She whirled around and marched to her desk, to the intercom. She hit the button to speak, and took care to keep her voice professional.

“Jess. Did you fit a lock on the outside of my door without my knowledge?”

She released the button, and waited, crossing her arms and tapping the toe of her Louboutin against the floor, refusing to look at Kara, whom she had heard giggle.

Finally the intercom buzzed.

_“New ’com. Who dis?”_

Lena could only blink in disbelief, while Kara made a strangled sound, probably trying to suppress a guffaw.

Finally Lena regained her voice, and took her anger out on the intercom button. “You know perfectly well who this is. Your boss. The person who signs your checks.”

There was a pause, before the intercom buzzed again.

_“And I’m the person who schedules your therapy appointments.”_

Lena scowled, but had to admit Jess made a good point. Single Lena had been miserable, and required regular therapy appointments. She slammed down the button again. “I’ll remember this when it comes time for your Christmas bonus.”

_“I look forward to it.”_

Lena grimaced as the intercom fell silent. She braced herself for the inevitable onslaught of arguments from Kara about how they should try again, how they could make it, how sorry she was—

“You still love me.”

Lena was not prepared for _that._ She broke down, finally succumbing to all her grief from the last few days. “Of course I do,” she managed to get out through tears and sniffles and choked-off sobs. “But it’s too hard. You’re a Super. I’m a Luthor. We somehow got in a good year and a few months but it was never going to work. We were doomed from the start.”

Kara’s arms encircled her, and Lena couldn’t help but fall into their warmth. Just one more time, before they had to part forever.

“I don’t believe that, and neither do you,” said Kara, her voice gentle but firm. “Besides, the hard is what makes it great.”

Lena wanted to laugh, but couldn’t. “Did you get that from a movie?”

“A League of Their Own.”

Now Lena really did laugh, although it came out as almost a shriek—the shriek of a grieving, deranged lady with a naïve, adorable ex-girlfriend. “You’re comparing our life together to baseball?”

“Not just baseball. Just the best baseball movie _ever.”_

Lena sighed, but wasn’t ready to leave Kara’s arms just yet.

Kara tightened her hold around her ever so slightly. “Maybe fate did deal us a bad hand, with our families’ history. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t meant to make it work.”

Lena placed her hands softly over Kara’s. “In Japan,” she said, her mind a little on museums she’d been to on business trips, but mostly here with Kara, “when something valuable breaks, like a vase or teacup, they mend it by filling in the cracks with gold. Because they believe surviving the damage has made it more beautiful.”

 _“You_ are the most valuable thing in the universe to me.” Kara squeezed her ever so softly. “If you want, I’ll . . . I’ll give up being Supergirl.”

“No, I don’t want that, I don’t want that at all.” Lena turned in Kara’s arms, Kara loosening her embrace to allow her. “I could never take you away from the rest of the world, from everyone you help protect. That would be selfish of me.”

“It wouldn’t.”

“It would.”

Kara gently leaned her forehead against Lena’s. “What can I do, to make it easier for you?”

Lena slowly shook her head, moving Kara’s with hers. There were no easy answers.  “Please don’t give up on me, not even when I’ve temporarily given up on us.”

“Never.”

They held each other awhile, breathing together, till finally letting go. Lena picked up the ring box.

“I don’t think we’re quite ready to take that step.”

Kara nodded wistfully. “But someday?”

In answer, Lena kissed her.

Then she slipped the ring box into her bag, and kept the contracts, as those needed signing. But she took the laptop out, and left it on the desk, as she and Kara would most certainly be busy with other, more important things once they got home.

“May I ask a favor, darling?”

Kara smiled, and looked so happy, now that they were back together. “Anything.”

“Could you fly us home? I feel the need to get back at Jess.”

Kara’s smile slipped. “Ooh. That’s not very nice of us.”

“That’s the point.”

Kara worried at her lower lip. “She’s going to be plenty mad when she realizes we’re gone.”

“She’ll get over it.” Lena smirked. “I do, after all, sign her checks.”

Kara kissed Lena this time, and they both smiled into it. Then Kara ripped open her blouse buttons, revealing the crest underneath. She whirled around, and in a flash of red and blue transformed into Supergirl.

Lena gazed in admiration. “I still don’t understand how you hide those boots underneath Kara Danvers’ sensible shoes.”

Kara grinned. “That’s a trade secret. Ready?”

Lena once more kissed her girlfriend, her maybe-someday-in-the-future, when-they-were-ready fiancée. “Very.”

Kara picked Lena up, Lena slid open the balcony door, and Supergirl stepped through it. She flew them home, where cats and more making-up awaited them.

 

*

 

Jess poured kibble into the dog bowl. “We’ll stay here all night if we have to, Boo.”

As her trusty Labrador scarfed his dinner, she ordered takeout. Then she settled back in her chair with a good novel, putting her feet up on the desk. Hmpf. Those two idiots.

“All night.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
